Some reflections as the year comes to an end [View All]

[beachmom]

John Kerry is the Democrat who inspired me to become involved as an activist. He said it in speeches, and he seemed quite pleased when I told him in person that because of his words I had volunteered for the Webb campaign in '06. So, of course, this year, I continued that activism by volunteering for Obama's campaign for change here in Georgia. I met some great people, and although we fell short, I am so happy I did that work. I'll never forget Election Night, when Ohio was called, and later when the West Coast was called and Senator Obama officially became President Elect Obama. I was in a former KKK region in Forsyth County celebrating with a mixed crowd, black and white, gay and straight, a variety of religions. Some of the African Americans broke out in song singing "Amen", and we all joined in in that old spiritual. It was the ultimate high point of my involvement in politics ....

And then Hillary got picked for Secretary of State. And the magic was gone. Nasty stories were told on TV and in the press that Kerry would have been a "disappointing" choice for Secretary of State, and that is why Obama picked Clinton. This went on and on. At first I reacted intellectually: well, this is a good political move. Kerry will still have the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. But as the pettiness and nastiness continued for a couple more weeks, something happened inside of me. I no longer felt euphoric for an Obama Presidency. The joy I had felt on Election Night was gone, never to return. No matter what anyone can say to me, no matter how many times I see a smiling and very busy Sen. Kerry on TV, I still think Kerry was betrayed by Obama. I just can't get around that. Now this does not mean they will not work together -- of course, they will. I see Kerry being considerably influential with this Administration, and I see him doing an incredible job. I see Kerry going to the White House for casual dinners, where his counsel to the President will be very important. But it will never be like it was before. Kerry was the Happy Warrior for Barack Obama. He did not deserve to be treated the way he was.

To be fair to Obama, he was not at all happy the way things went down:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/magazine/21Gibbs-t.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

When I spoke to Obama by phone earlier this month, he said he was not surprised by this. “The transition involves an awful lot of people who don’t actually work for me,” he said. “You’ve got a slew of volunteers in every agency in the vetting process. You’ve got F.B.I. folks involved when it comes to appointments. So we anticipated that we weren’t going to be able to march in lock step on our communications as effectively.” Still, Obama was said to be furious over the serial public airings about Hillary Clinton’s eventual nomination to be Secretary of State. He sent an explicit message that anyone caught leaking would be fired — and he sent it through his newly named chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, who a couple of weeks earlier conducted a very public hand-wringing about whether he would take that job.

Implicit in there was that it wasn't right to have all this speculation going on for weeks, while other possible candidates were mocked. I have no idea if Obama telephoned Kerry and said he was sorry about some of those leaks. But if it isn't public, then it isn't real. Kerry was made fun of in the media on account of leaks attributed to the Obama transition team, and nobody defended him except his own spokesperson, and us. I just am not going to be able to forget that.

During this time period, Obama decided that Georgia wasn't worth his time for the Senate runoff. So I decided it wasn't worth my time either, and skipped out on Martin. Now in my defense, the schedule offered for phonebanking was not good for me and I was pretty burned out from the G.E. But I know that the moment all this crap went down on the Sec. of State position, I just didn't know if I wanted to stay involved in politics anymore. I am not making any decisions yet, but the Democratic party in Georgia is pathetic. I just don't see a lot of hope here. The Republicans hold nearly everything: the governership, both Senators, both state Houses, and the majority of the Congressional delegation (we have John Lewis, and two conservative Dems: Marshall (who voted against s-chip) and Barrow). I won't make any decisions on that yet, but I don't feel like volunteering for candidates who always lose, which is kind of how it is here.

The other effect that this disappointment has had on me is actually a good thing in a way. I no longer feel invested in the Obama Administration, so bad stuff that happens no longer upsets me. I can take many steps back, and realize that Obama will be a decent President who will hopefully fix the economy and move foreign policy back toward sanity. He has hired a lot of really smart and accomplished people. Competence and innovation will be back in government. But on difficult issues, he will probably disappoint. And his picking Warren as the minister to give the invocation on Inauguration Day? Hell, that was SO predictable. What a slap in the face to gay people already crushed from Prop 8 passing in California. He is wrong to do so, while politically it is a good move. Believe me, I know lots of fans of "The Purpose Driven Life". They will be impressed with Obama having Warren there, even if they voted for McCain. It's good presidential politics. But it's not for me, and I am not going along with it. It helps to review the New Yorker article about Obama from the summer:

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/21/080721fa_fact_lizza

Preckwinkle is an Alderman in Chicago who helped Obama out early in his career when he sought the state Senate seat.

Preckwinkle soon became an Obama loyalist, and she stuck with him in a State Senate campaign that strained or ruptured many friendships but was ultimately successful. Four years later, in 2000, she backed Obama in a doomed congressional campaign against a local icon, the former Black Panther Bobby Rush. And in 2004 Preckwinkle supported Obama during his improbable, successful run for the United States Senate. So it was startling to learn that Toni Preckwinkle had become disenchanted with Barack Obama.

Preckwinkle is a tall, commanding woman with a clipped gray Afro. She has represented her slice of the South Side for seventeen years and expresses no interest in higher office. On Chicago’s City Council, she is often a dissenter against the wishes of Mayor Richard M. Daley. For anyone trying to understand Obama’s breathtakingly rapid political ascent, Preckwinkle is an indispensable witness—a close observer, friend, and confidante during a period of Obama’s life to which he rarely calls attention.

Although many of Obama’s recent supporters have been surprised by signs of political opportunism, Preckwinkle wasn’t. “I think he was very strategic in his choice of friends and mentors,” she told me. “I spent ten years of my adult life working to be alderman. I finally got elected. This is a job I love. And I’m perfectly happy with it. I’m not sure that’s the way that he approached his public life—that he was going to try for a job and stay there for one period of time. In retrospect, I think he saw the positions he held as stepping stones to other things and therefore approached his public life differently than other people might have.”

On issue after issue, Preckwinkle presented Obama as someone who thrived in the world of Chicago politics. She suggested that Obama joined Jeremiah Wright’s Trinity United Church of Christ for political reasons. “It’s a church that would provide you with lots of social connections and prominent parishioners,” she said. “It’s a good place for a politician to be a member.” Preckwinkle was unsparing on the subject of the Chicago real-estate developer Antoin (Tony) Rezko, a friend of Obama’s and one of his top fund-raisers, who was recently convicted of fraud, bribery, and money laundering: “Who you take money from is a reflection of your knowledge at the time and your principles.” As we talked, it became increasingly clear that loyalty was the issue that drove Preckwinkle’s current view of her onetime protégé. “I don’t think you should forget who your friends are,” she said.

Others told me that Preckwinkle’s grievances against Obama included specific complaints, such as his refusal to endorse a former aide and longtime friend, Will Burns, in a State Senate primary—a contest that Burns won anyway. There was also a more general belief that, after Obama won the 2004 United States Senate primary, he ignored his South Side base. Preckwinkle said, “My view is you have to bring your constituency along with you. Granted, you have to make some tough decisions. Granted, sometimes you have to make decisions that people won’t understand or like. But it’s your obligation to explain yourself and try to do your supporters the courtesy of treating them with respect.” Ivory Mitchell, who for twenty years has been the chairman of the local ward organization in Obama’s neighborhood—considered the most important Democratic organization on the South Side—was one of Obama’s earliest backers. Today, he says, “All the work we did to help him get where he finally ended up, he didn’t seem too appreciative.” A year ago, Mitchell became a delegate for Hillary Clinton.

The same month Mitchell endorsed Clinton, the Obama campaign reached out to Preckwinkle, and eventually she signed on as an Obama delegate. I asked her if what she considered slights or betrayals were simply the necessary accommodations and maneuvering of a politician making a lightning transition from Hyde Park legislator to Presidential nominee. “Can you get where he is and maintain your personal integrity?” she said. “Is that the question?” She stared at me and grimaced. “I’m going to pass on that.”

I read this article, and got several things out of it: Obama was not corrupt nor was he some kind of radical. BUT, it is clear that he is not someone you can count on. He is a brilliant politician, and he will move the country overall in the right direction. But it is going to be a painful four years full of much disappointment. I am thankful that mine came early, so that I will be ready for all the subsequent disappointments. Of course, we know we have a Senator who we CAN count on, and that is John Kerry.